


Person of Interest recap for 4x13 (M.I.A.)

by fursasaida



Series: Person of Interest Recaps Lifeboat [5]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Meta, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 17:49:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17871917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fursasaida/pseuds/fursasaida
Summary: What it says on the tin.





	Person of Interest recap for 4x13 (M.I.A.)

Hi, everyone! Sorry this one was so late; I have had Computer Problems, which I’m sure you all recognize as the total bane of any Internet Person’s life. Let’s all thank my academic institution’s library computers and carry on with our very important shipping lives.

This episode was the end–for now–of Team Machine’s search for Shaw, of course. More interesting, however, is its meditation on the theme of Schrödinger’s Cat. The basic explanation of the concept was straightforward enough, and it was not explicitly discussed after Root’s introductory speech. But it hovered over the whole episode: Was Shaw dead or alive? Was the number of the week a hitman or just a schlub? Would Team Machine be monsters or heroes? Was the town of Maple a utopia or a dystopia? We got answers to most of these quantum uncertainties; the one that remains is the question of Team Machine’s place in the moral universe. What does it mean to follow orders? What does it mean to question them?

Perhaps more important than all of this: SILVA IS BACK!!! SILVA IS STILL AWESOME AND STILL HOT, in case anyone was, like, _concerned_ about that.

[LOST IMAGE: Silva being Silva, I guess]  
_Caption to lost image: ARE YOU GONNA BE AROUND ALL THE TIME NOW???_

But none of that is what we are here to discuss! We are here to discuss Root and Shaw. First of all, yes, I was wrong: Shaw is not dead. This is wonderful news, naturally, though at this point it wasn’t so much a surprise (hence the lack of screeching here). I will be forever depressed that we never got to see what Root and Shaw were like together, not courting or in pursuit; but I’m glad the door is so explicitly open. (While of course it is theoretically possible we’ll see what that looks like one day, even in the best case scenario that won’t be for a fairly long while.) Yes, yes, I know the show doesn’t tend to go in for much on-screen datin’ and relatin’, but 1) these two are a unique case because they worked so closely together, and 2) I’m not asking for a rom-com here—something not unlike what we saw of Harold and Grace would be lovely.

BUT STILL: SHAW IS ALIVE. Also, I am delighted to learn that before Sarah Shahi came to the showrunners with her pregnancy [they were gearing up to eliminate Reese](http://m.hollywoodreporter.com/entry/view/id/895291). This is precisely the choice I would have thought was most powerful and organic to the story but also the least likely for almost any show to actually execute, and it is most pleasing to know that they were actually going to do it!

At any rate, while our nine-lifed Schrödinger’s badass was recuperating offscreen, Root and Reese went on an idyllic autumn rampage through the Hudson Valley.

[LOST IMAGE: I truly do not know]  
_Caption to lost image: Take professional killers leaf-peeping at your own risk_

Both of them are on edge throughout the episode, but naturally Root is particularly tightly wound. Root is desperate to locate Shaw. She always insists that Shaw is alive, against all odds and despite all doubters. Since a fair amount of the episode’s middle was taken up with the number back in and small-town hijinks, we got Root’s mission statement pretty early on:

> **Reese:** You really are sure she’s alive.
> 
> **Root:** You know about Schrödinger’s Cat? There’s a cat. Trapped in a box with something lethal. There’s a 50% chance the cat’s been killed, but until you open the box, there’s no way to know one way or the other. Quantum physics says before you open the box, the cat isn’t dead or alive. It’s both.
> 
> **Reese:** What about after you open the box?
> 
> **Root:** Reality collapses back onto itself. Cat’s either alive or it’s dead.
> 
> **Reese** : Well we’re gonna see reality soon. But you don’t bet against Shaw.
> 
> **Root:** No. Nothing kills that cat.

Well, let’s all just sob ourselves into oblivion then. Root’s faith in Shaw is so far away from the person she was when we met her. Remember what a callous nihilist she was? Remember how completely disinterested she was in human beings and their capabilities? The only faith she has ever demonstrated on this show thus far has been in The Machine and, to some extent, in Harold’s ability to be interesting. She has shown a whole range of emotions toward Shaw (concern, love, lust, humor, interest, grief), but _faith_ is a new one. I am extremely verklempt.

I also think Reese is very sweet here. I think he probably doesn’t have quite the faith that Root does (which makes sense, as it’s not the love of _his_ life he’s chasing), but nor is he of Harold’s doubters’ party; he’s holding into some hope there. But in this conversation what he’s really doing is trying to make sure he helps Root keep up her faith because he knows she needs it, and he needs her to have it. Honestly, between this conversation and the moment later when they were rescuing the Shaw decoy (I’ll mention it when I get there), Reese endeared himself more to me this episode than he had in maybe years.

Throughout the entire narrative thread that belongs to Murders R Us (because their names both start with R! I KILL ME), Root just has _no time for anyone’s shit_ , and if it were all less heartbreaking it would be hilarious. Chief of Police wants to play grab-ass? He’s going in a suitcase, consequences be damned. (“Coy isn’t really my thing, either,” SAMANTHA OH MY GOD.) (p.s. does “Oh, this doesn’t weigh a thing, don’t mind me” count as coy if you’re hauling a grown man in a body bag up a flight of stairs?) Doctor looks fishy? Kick in his front door. Factory head isn’t giving up useful answers? Drill her hand. Guards won’t clear out? Shoot the shit out of them. Sameen isn’t where she’s supposed to be? _DESTROY EVERYTHING_.

That moment was genuinely terrifying, almost entirely due to Amy Acker’s acting. I knew, of course, that Shaw was going to be alive one way or another, but Root didn’t. It’s not a coincidence that Delia Jordan was in a room-within-a-room; she was another Schrödinger’s cat, and that ward was her box. Root was entirely correct that literally up until the moment that Delia turned over and asked to go home, she was Shaw, because she wasn’t anyone else. How could the characters or we have imagined there’d be more than one person in such a situation?

Reese, leaning hard on his superhero side, responds to this by rescuing Delia (and eventually being entirely prepared to take unknown number of bullets for her—this was the other endearing moment). Root, well:

[LOST IMAGE: ???]  
_Caption to lost image: To be absolutely clear, she is pulling a grown man’s hair here._

I can’t find a screencap or gif that really demonstrates the degree to which she laid waste to that factory (also, that was a lot of armed men for a skeleton crew, I’m just saying), but basically she went full Terminator and it was both awesome and incredibly sad. Root spends the entire episode fraying thinner and thinner.

By the end—when they’ve made valuable moves against Samaritan and saved some good people, but not found Shaw—she is absolutely at her limit. Root is standing on a sidewalk just staring into a surveillance camera, begging The Machine for answers. Her desperate state culminates in an incredible scene with Harold (the two of them are always wonderful together) in which Harold keeps trying to get her to let go of Shaw (LOL HAROLD NO) and she keeps insisting she needs answers. She needs to open the box, whatever may be inside.

Her refusal to accept The Machine’s silence is pretty revolutionary for her. She has gone from unquestioning obedience to what looks like it might be flat-out rebellion—a progression that is, of course, in interesting tension with Reese’s statements to the head of Maple’s factory about how those who follow orders without question are responsible for the consequences and deserve what they get. This is fascinating—WHERE IS ROOT GOING AT THE END??? WHAT IS SHE GOING TO DO?!—and also it supports my assertion from a few weeks back that The Machine isn’t so much the love of her life as She is her adoptive mother. _Shaw_ is the love of her life. Of course we don’t know yet quite what “Goodbye, Harold” means, or what the Machine’s plea to _Sierra Tango Oscar Papa_ will mean for Root, but it’s hard not to read the end of her story in this episode as a clear choice of Shaw as more important than The Machine’s direction. _That is huge._

Some odds and ends:

  * So many parallels this episode!
  * Shaw’s cameo is obviously a [callback](http://wdya.tumblr.com/post/110045681685) to Kara Stanton’s first meeting with Greer. (Her line is also perfect. GRUMPY CAT SHAW.)
  * You cannot convince me that [the factory head](http://screencapped.net/tv/personofinterest/displayimage.php?album=36&pid=90773#top_display_media) wasn’t supposed to remind us of Martine, with her perfect sweep of blonde bangs. It subtly reinforces the idea that Martine is a bit of an automaton and simultaneously makes us less sympathetic to this character (who Root is going to scare the living hell out of). Honestly, the backstory on this beleaguered woman makes me more sympathetic than anything else, but the visual link back to the core of Samaritan helps me focus more on Root’s pain than on the pain she’s causing poor Ms. Pacemaker.
  * Silva’s partnership with Fusco is almost like Fusco and Carter’s old relationship in reverse, with Fusco mentoring her (sort of) instead of the other way around.
  * “You remind me of a friend. Coupla friends, in fact” is obviously referring to Carter and Shaw, especially given that Fusco “couldn’t stand to lose someone today” largely because he’s just heard the search for Shaw is not going well.
  * HOW MANY FEELINGS DOES THIS SHOW EXPECT MY BODY TO CONTAIN WITH ALL THESE INTERESTING WOMEN
  * PS if you want to have your heart broken just like, watch [these gifs.](http://oodnight.tumblr.com/post/110044832012) Harold will be right there with you.



This may be my last recap ever for this show, unless things take a drastically unexpected turn. If that turns out to be the case, I just wanted to say it’s been really fun doing this with you guys! Prayer circle for Silva to get a girlfriend TOOT SWEET.

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of those times I wish maybe I _had_ decided to do rewrites, because I know I have specific feelings about this episode now, after my many rewatches, that I did not have at the time; it seems like kind of a shame to just leave them in random comments on various messageboards. Maybe sometime I'll find the time to post some things on tumblr (@22drunkb is my tumblr for media-related stuff, if you're interested--you can find other meta writing there, though mostly about other shows).


End file.
